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Oneway ticket from Visual Studio to Vim

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Not so while ago If you had asked: Would you ever leave Visual Studio (+ReSharper and tools)?. The answer would be: “Hell No!, Why on earth I'll leave the most powerful IDE ever built?!

But as the time goes by, I've changed my mind...
Lately I been working on Mac, Linux and Windows, doing .NET, JavaScript, TypeScript, Ruby, HTML, CSS, some SQL and batch/shell scripts. Having and editor that works (almost) the same way in all of these platforms is a big win for me. Not to mention that I can code in any language I want with out switching editors.

Here is a short a short list features that made me change my mind.
* Cross platform support. (Big one).
* Lightweight. (When in the road, your battery will last longer).
* Fast as hell. You won't be waiting for minutes to open solutions.
* You can code in any language you want.
* Tiny footprint. You don't need 8 GB of disk's space just to install the tool.
* Already installed on most Unix systems.

Ok, that sounds good. But which features will you miss if you decide to give Vim a try?
Well, that heavily depends on your workflow, but based on fellow developers, I'll say:
* Built in Debugger.
* Smart refactors (a huge one for me too).
* Intellisense.
* Drag and Drop stuff around.
* There is no easy way to work with project and solutions files.
* Being able to use the mouse (really?!).

In general, I do TDD, so the builtin debugger it's not an issue to me. I always say that been in debug land is huge waste of time (almost as bad as being at meetings with project managers ;))
With regards to intellisense, you can use ctags to get some sort of intellisense (statement completion, quite frankly). It's not perfect, but it's good enough to get work done.
As far as refactors goes, I not gonna lie. Move code around without resharper is a bit of a pain in the ass; but as you will be working with a plain text editor, believe me, your code will be simpler and hence it won't be “that” hard to move around.

Note: I do know about omnisharp and I'm aware that it can provide almost the same Visual Studio's experience, but compared to plain old Vim, omnisharp is as slow as a dog. Not to mention you have to run a web server just to get intellisense. That sounds crazy to me.


Essential Vim plugins:
* CommandT. Resharper's Ctrl+N (kinda).
* MRU. Most recently used files.
* NERDTree. Directory/File explorer.
* Airline. Lightweight status line.
* Vim-CSharp. Better support for C# projects.
* SupertTab . Tab completion in insert mode.
* Snipmate. Vim's code snippets.
* Tcomment. Adds shortcuts to comment / uncomment code.
* Vim-Multiple Cursors. Simliar to Sublime Multiple Cursors.

External tools that will make your life easier:
* Exuberant Ctags.
* Git.

And last but not least, I haven't to be an all-in bet. Installing VsVim is a nice way to get a taste of Vim with out leaving your comfort zone. You wouldn't be able to use plugins, but I'll be good enough to get a taste of the powerful Vi motions and edit modes.

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